


Hope

by itishawkeye



Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: Brotherly Love, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-18
Updated: 2014-12-18
Packaged: 2018-03-02 00:00:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2792438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itishawkeye/pseuds/itishawkeye
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lip hopes their lives won't always be like this.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hope

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place in season 3 after Mickey knocks out Ian's teeth. The scene where Ian was upstairs crying while his family laughed downstairs killed me so this is a little bit of a fix it. Also I miss all the brotherly moments between Ian and Lip.

Ian is coughing somewhere down the hall and it's keeping Lip up. He's become immune to most noise over the years of living in this house, usually he can sleep right through it. But Ian is coughing and it's wet and loud and Lip can't fucking sleep.   
He pulls back the sheets and the cold air bites at his bare legs. Lip groans as he pushes himself out of his bed. He's irritated; even though he's sure that it's not Ian's fault he's coughing. He still wants him to just shut up. Maybe his sleep-deprived brain is making him unreasonable. He heads down the hall to Ian and Carl's room. The door is open, and Carl and Liam are both there, fast asleep. Ian's bed is empty. Lip hears something crash to the floor behind him and he spins around. There's light spilling out of a crack in the bathroom door, so Lip figures that must be where Ian and his coughing are.   
He pushes the door open slowly, so that it doesn't creak and there's Ian, leaning against the sink. Fiona's makeup bag is lying on the floor and Lip figures that's what the crash was. He's got a washcloth in his hand and he's dabbing it at the blood leaking out of his mouth. Lip can see the red staining it. Ian's jaw is bruised and if he had to guess by the way Ian hunched over the sink he would say his face wasn't the only thing bruised.  
"Holy shit," Lip says.  
Ian jumps and drops his red-stained washcloth. He over at Lip sheepishly.  
"It's not as bad as it looks," Ian promises. "I got some teeth knocked out. I think I swallowed some of the blood."  
Lip closes his eyes for a second because what the fuck has Ian gotten himself into this time. He takes a breath and gets the first aid kit out of the closet. Lip pushes up the lid and roots around in it.  
"What happened?" He asks as he presses an ice pack to Ian's face.   
Ian pauses and stares at the door. "I think I'm in love with Mickey."  
Of all the things Lip thought Ian might have said just then that was one was not even on the list.  
"He do this?" Lip questions because if love is what happened here then he must be missing something.  
"It wasn't his fault."  
Bull fucking shit.   
"If you were me and Fiona or Debbie was in your place, would you buy that?"   
"No," Ian admits. "But I'm not Fiona or Debbie."   
Lip wants to roll his eyes, but he has a feeling Ian wouldn't take that very well at the moment.  
Ian winces when Lip catches a cut the wrong way. He closes his eyes.  
"Ian... You deserve better than this. Better than Mickey or fucking Kash or that creep Lishman. Just... Remember that, okay?"  
Ian looks at him and his eyes are wet and puffy.   
"I will, Lip." Ian says, but Lip isn't sure that he's telling the truth.  
He's seen that look before. The look someone gets when they are in an addictive relationship. He's seen that look on Frank and Monica. All he can do is hope that this won't be the wreck that is. He hopes he doesn't spend the rest of his life cleaning up his little brother's blood.  
But then again, hope has never done much for him before.


End file.
